150 years of “Leaves of Grass”

by Maud |May 17th, 2005

The Library of Congress’ “Revising Himself: Walt Whitman and ‘Leaves of Grass‘” opened yesterday. The exhibition marks the 150th anniversary of the poem’s first publication. Whitman published nine different editions of “Leaves of Grass” before his death in 1892.

The images at the top of this post display the top (left) and bottom (right) of a cardboard butterfly photographed on the poet’s finger. The butterfly was missing from the Library of Congress archive for years before it turned up in 1995. (Thanks to M.W. for the link.)